


Meeting at the Gym

by NatIannera



Series: March Writing Madness - 2019 [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: (at the end at least), Cute, F/M, Gym, Karen is an awful person, March Writing Madness, Romance, Stress, THERE'S NO XALDIN IN HERE, There's a Karen here, argument, beginning of a romance, used his because there was none for Dilan, working out, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 03:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18044558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatIannera/pseuds/NatIannera
Summary: You and Dilan see each other often at the Gym, but never had the chance to speak to each other. That is about to change.





	Meeting at the Gym

**Author's Note:**

> Hoi zäme!  
> Here it is, late as always. I'll probably get a grip by next week, since I'll be back in school by then and really need to get a grip. No more posting at 2 in the morning!  
> But I had a surprisingly easy time with this. Thing is, I don't really like Dilan or Xaldin all that much. For me, there's just too little there of his character to really take interest in him. But I still hope I did an okay job with this.  
> Hope you'll enjoy!

You can’t deny it – that man working out over there was pretty cute.

And not cute in the type of feminine-looking cute, not by a long shot. This man is so buff he could probably carry an entire armor without even breaking a sweat, has black dreads, thick eyebrows and thick sideburns. Nothing about him was feminine, child-like or anything else one would normally associate with the word ‘cute’. No, he was cute in a gentle giant way. Even though he never speaks to anyone, not even his occasional workout buddy – a man just as buff as him – you just had the feeling that he is the type of guy who would be a softie around puppies, kittens or babies. Yes, he has an intimidating aura, and is definitely physically imposing, but your gut tells you that he’s not a big scary guy.

However, you never really had the chance to speak to him, since he always arrives later and stays longer than you do. Given that you can’t linger around too long after your workout, since you have a class at the other end of the city, the opportunity for a casual conversation never arose. Technically, you could just go up to him, but you hate it whenever someone does that to you while you’re working out, so you’d rather not.

So, there was nothing other for you to do than focus on your work out, although you did steal a lot of glances into his direction. 

* * *

Dilan, of course, notices you glancing his way every so often. He’s trained, how could he not?

He doesn’t mind you looking his way every once in a while. In a way, he actually enjoys it, since you are quite attractive to him. Most might not call you exactly attractive, since you’re muscular as well, but you were good-looking in his eyes. Your body has nice proportions, your facial features are even, and your hair looks well taken care of. Additionally, you seem like the person who could stay calm in a dangerous situation but still put up a fight if needed, which is always something he appreciates.

Unfortunately, you always arrive earlier than him and leave in a hurry, so he hasn’t had the chance to talk to you yet. He thought of going up to you and talking to you many times, but each and every time he attempts, you seem too focused on your workout, making him second-guess himself. After all, he dislikes it whenever someone interrupts him while he’s having a great flow.

Maybe, one day an opportunity will come up. Or maybe, he’ll just have to create an opportunity. 

* * *

It is another normal day at the Gym, and you just got done with your warm up. Preparing yourself for the next portion of your usual routine, you notice the cute guy coming in, a bit early this time. Over the past few days, you managed to learn his name – Dilan. Well, at least his occasional workout buddy – whose name is Aeleus – casually calls him by it, so you assume it’s his name. It doesn’t sound like a nickname, but it could be something like a codename or his middle name, you’re not entirely sure. But for now, you’re going with Dilan.

Dilan gets started on his usual routine, and you continue with yours, letting your gaze wander through the Gym as usual. It’s not all too packed, but a couple of people are there. Most of them are regulars, but there are a few new people too. One of them stands out to you, since she doesn’t seem all too interested in working out at all. You mentally shrug it off, since it really isn’t your business. Why judge her for wasting her own money? It’s her loss.

However, in the course of the next half hour, you notice this woman behave rather odd. She seems to be observing someone, and is rather obvious about it as well. Stretching her neck to see the person better, switching places to probably get a better view, and always looking into the same direction while not using any of the training devices at all.

Curious as to who caught her interest like that, you discreetly follow her looks to find the person she’s observing.

It’s Dilan.

It can’t be anyone else than Dilan, since there’s no one even close to him at the moment.

And it admittedly ticks you off. Why is this woman staring so openly? If she wants to stare, she could at least try to hide it. Does she have no shame? Does she not respect someone else’s privacy?

As you are quietly cursing for yourself, you notice the woman taking something out of a pocket – or something similar, seeing as gym workout clothes rarely have pockets. It’s nothing surprising, just a smartphone. Many people use their smartphones in the gym, either for taking pictures of themselves to document their progress, or to listen to music.

However, when the woman starts to lift up her phone and tries to take sneaky pictures of Dilan, your patience snaps. Staring at him, creepy but still tolerable. But taking pictures without him knowing is absolutely not okay, and probably illegal.

You get up from your station and walk over to the lady, who immediately tries to hide her phone.

“Hey. Hey, Lady.”

You don’t tone your voice down, but you don’t raise it yet. Maybe you can talk some sense into her, or get a good explanation out of her. If that’s the case, there’s no need to cause a scene.

“I saw you trying to take pictures of that man. Did you ask him if you could do that?” You ask the lady, tone steady and stern. It takes a bit of effort to keep the anger at bay, since you’re 99% sure she does not have permission. However, given the off chance that she does, you’d rather not get in trouble for a misunderstanding.

But her reaction proves you right, since she immediately tries to turn the situation around and doesn’t answer your question at all.

“What do you want from me?! Get away, you creep!” Her screechy voice, which immediately makes your ears hurt, draws the attention from almost everyone currently working out, except those who are listening to really loud music with their earphones. You raise an eyebrow at her behavior, getting more ticked off by the second. First acting like a stalker, and now trying to play innocent, huh?

“Lady, the only creep around here is the person who tried to take unsolicited pictures from the man working out back there, and that is you.” You retort, sounding a tad bit snobby. Of course, this aggravates the lady even further.

“How dare you accuse me of that! My husband will hear of this!” The lady then turns around and yells “JONATHAN!” at the top of her lungs, causing you to flinch and take a step back. Yikes, her screaming voice was even worse than her talking voice.

Not a second later, the owner of the Gym comes rushing in, probably concerned something happened to his wife. “Karen, dearest, what- “ “This creep over here is harassing me! They won’t leave me alone!” The lady, fittingly called Karen, wipes away a fake tear, which she apparently just forced out of herself, seeing as she hasn’t been crying just a few seconds before. You sigh tiredly before turning to the owner, taking your chance.

“Listen, sir, your wife was trying to take pictures of a man working out without asking him beforehand, and I called her out on it.” You explain the situation as it is, and immediately, Karen starts to cry as if you had just called her a horrible insult. Her husband holds her, comforting her while glaring daggers at you. Welp, that didn’t go well.

“How dare you say something like that! My lovely wife would never do such a thing! Get out of here, before I have security throw you out!” The owner is now yelling as well, and as he speaks, a droplet of his spit flies towards you. With clear disgust, you wipe the droplet away, which seems to aggravate him even further, for whatever reason. Giving it one last shot, you try to clarify everything.

“Look at the tapes if you- “

“Security! Security!”, the owner yells loudly, and a few seconds later, two security officers appear. “Escort this person outside immediately!” The owner points at you, not even looking at you anymore, as if you were nothing more than dirt. You would’ve loved it to give him a piece of your mind, but you recognize when you’ve lost a battle.

The security guards approach you, and you follow them without much struggle. Although you are not weak, not by any definition, you know better than to try and fight security guards. Those people are trained, way better than you probably will ever be.

However, what really does bum you is that you weren’t even allowed to get your stuff out of the lockers. While you do have your most important things with you, such as key, wallet and phone, you don’t have your jacket or your umbrella with you, and it’s currently raining.

Just great.

You take out your phone, ready to call one of your friends to ask her to come here and get your stuff for you, as someone speaks to you.

“Thank you.”

You look up, and to your surprise, Dilan is standing next to you. While he doesn’t exactly wear a smile on his face, you can see subtle signs of a positive emotion on his facial features, such as the absence of a scowl or frown.

You quickly snap out of your daze and smile up to him. “No problem at all. I probably should’ve stepped in earlier. Hope she didn’t make you too uncomfortable with her obvious staring.”

Dilan shakes his head, one corner of his lip curling upwards a bit. “No, it wasn’t the first time someone was staring.” Dilan quickly does a one-over of you, then raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t they allow you to get your stuff out of the locker?”

You shake your head, sighing. “No. The owner and the lady were following me like a hawk, so the security guards just immediately kicked me out. But- “

“If you give me the key, I can fetch your things for you.” Dilan offers, and you blink in confusion. Maybe he’s trying to pay you back? Eh, why not, it will be faster than waiting for your fiend.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Here’s the key.” You hold the key out to him, and without another word, Dilan takes the key and quickly walks inside.

You only have to wait for about five minutes – during which you found out that today’s class was canceled, which you don’t mind at all – before he’s back, carrying your bag and his as well. It surprises you to see him ready to leave, and makes you feel a bit guilty. You interrupted his workout.

“Oh, sorry if I interrupted you during your workout, you really didn’t have to- “

“No, it’s perfectly fine. I don’t want to work out at a gym of such an ignorant owner.” Dilan hands you your bag, and you immediately put on your jacket. It already feels a lot better than just standing there in your workout clothes.

Dilan observes you quietly, before he decides to take the chance offered to blatantly to him.

“Would you like to go out for a coffee right now?” Not beating around the bush, Dilan directly asks you out on the spot. You’re a bit taken aback, and want to decline since you really don’t want him to feel like he needs to pay you back, but on second thought, you change your mind.

This is the perfect opportunity, so why not just go for it? You wanted to talk to him for a while, and it seems that he has some interest in you as well. After all, he didn’t mention anything of repaying you, so that’s a good sign.

So, with a big grin on your face, you reply: “Yes, I’d love to. Anywhere specifically you want to go?”

And so, the both of you went out for coffee. It won’t be the last time you do, and it won’t be the last time the both of you spoke with each other.

It was just the beginning of something wonderful.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's that!  
> Now I'm off to sleep, and then I'll be working on my piece for Kairi. I've been looking forward to hers!
> 
> Tschüss!


End file.
